Tablet of visitation for the martyrs of Nayriz, Iran – by 'Abdu'l-Bahá

-- provisional translation

He is God!

O Divine Breezes, wafting over that Most Luminous Spot, convey the fire of the love of my heart, the longing of my soul, the deep attachment of my spirit and the ardent desire of my heart yearning to be at that place where the fallen heads were crowned with the greatest martyrdom adorned with jewels shedding light upon the ages and centuries past as they were separated from their bodies in the Path of God.

Say: May the bright lights shining from the Abha Kingdom Illuminate that brilliant sepulcher. May the soft breezes blowing from the gardens of the Most Sublime Paradise waft over that Most Luminous Spot. That verdant garden, that sublime meadow was honored by you.

O heads severed in the Path of your Lord! O faces illuminated by the light of the Sun of Guidance! O eyes brightened by turning towards the Splendor of the Daystar of Thy Revelation! O ears made receptive by listening to the Call of the Lord! O nostrils invigorated by inhaling the pure breath of the Guidance of God! O palates refreshed by tasting every bitterness yet sweetened in the path of the Love of God!

May my spirit be a sacrifice for you! May my being be a sacrifice for you! May my reality be a sacrifice for you!

Surih-i-Sabr, or Lawh-i-Ayyub (Surih of Patience) - by Baha'u'llah

--- Provisional translation by Khazeh Fananapazir

[“… revealed as far back as the year 1863, on the very first day of His arrival in the garden of Ridvan … (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah) “… the ‘Suriy-i-Sabr’ (Surih of Patience), revealed on the first day of Ridvan which extols Vahid and his fellow-sufferers in Nayriz …” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By)]

This is the City of Patience. Strive ye to enter it, O concourse of the patient ones!

In His name, the Exalted One, He Who is the Most Exalted.

This is the remembrance of God in the City of Patience regarding Job, Our servant, Whom We sheltered under the shade of that Holy Tree planted in His heart, to Whom We demonstrated the fire ignited in His Own Essence, and to Whose Self We revealed Our Own Self by His Own Self. We called Job from this sacred Spot whose environs are sanctified with this call, "Verily, He is God, Thy Lord and the Lord of all things. He is All-Powerful over all things, the Self-Subsisting One." When Job's face was illumined by the fire burning in the sacred Tree, We clothed Him with the garment of Prophethood and commanded Him to instruct men in the essence of graciousness and bounty and to invite the people to the holy and beloved Shore. We established Job on earth and caused the waters of divine munificence to descend on Him so that through riches He became independent of all the inhabitants of the earth. We conferred on Him a bounteous fortune and made Him very wealthy in the kingdom. We caused Him to receive a portion of all wealth and strengthened His back with great power. We gave Him sons from his loins and established an exalted station for Him in all the lands.

Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known." (Tafsír-i-Hadith-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfíyyan) – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

--- provisional translation by Moojan Moomen

[Prelude]

. . . And to continue: To him who looks understands these indications, it is well known with respect to the request of that traveller upon the paths of guidance, that bondsman of the King of Divine Authority, that seeker of the hidden Divine secrets, that knower of the secret Heavenly signs, that lover of the household and family of his holiness Mustafa [i.e. Muhammad], the favoured friend of the wayfarers and he who has clung to the Firmest Handle of God [urwatu'llah al-wuthqa] and to the Strongest Rope, `Ali Shawkat Pasha son of the late Agha Husayn Pasha (may God designate for him whatever He wishes), that he has wished this wayfarer upon the Path to write a brief explanation and a short beneficial commentary upon the Holy Tradition [hadith-i qudsi]: "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known."

In the pearl of each word of this divine song and this heavenly melody, there undoubtedly lie hid unnumbered pearls of hidden knowledge and in the existence of every letter of it, limitless oceans of meaning are concealed. But a sprinkling from that ocean of waves and a drop from that sea may be disseminated on account of the request of friends. And I hope that the explanation of these holy words and heavenly signs may contain the hidden confirmations of the Lord of Might and that His Assistance and unseen Mercy may be made manifest; verily He is the King, the Helper. In the hidden treasures and store-houses of these Heavenly words, the secrets of created things, the cause of the creation of existing things and the raising up of Contingent Being [6] lie concealed.

Tablet of the Uncompounded Reality (Lawh-i-Basit al-Haqiqa) – by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

He is God, exalted be He in Might and Greatness!

Concerning what the questioner has asked regarding the statement of the philosophers (hukamá) that "the uncompounded reality [1] is all things", say: know that what is intended by "things" in this context (lit. station, maqám) is none other than being (wujúd) and the perfections (kamalát) of being in so far as they are existent [and not privative] [2]; and by "all" is meant the obtainer (al-wájid). [3] This "all" contains no plurality and no part of it can be compared to the whole. The meaning is that the uncompounded reality, insofar as it is uncompounded in all respects, is the obtainer and gatherer of all the infinite and endless perfections. [4] As it has been said: "His works are limitless." 

In the Persian language, it may be said that what the philosopher means by the word "things" in the afore-mentioned expression is the perfections of being in so far as these are existent [and not privative]; and by the word "all", is meant possession (dárá'í) that is to say obtaining -- the gathering together of all of the limitless perfections, in an uncompounded manner. They have mentioned similar things throughout their discourse on the Divine unity (tawhíd), power (quwwat), and intensity (shiddat) of existence. 

The meaning of the philosopher was not that the Necessarily Existent [God] has become dispersed among (resolved into, lit. dissolved into, munhal) the innumerable existent things. No! Praised be He! Exalted is He above that! Even as the philosophers themselves have stated: "The uncompounded reality is all things, but is not any one thing." 

The Tablet of Unity (Lawh-i Ittihád) – by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

He is God! Exalted be He in Wisdom and Exposition!

A letter has been received by this Wronged One from one of the Sayyids [1] who have turned towards God, have listened and responded to their Lord, the Compassionate, the All-Bountiful. All [of them] have been remembered in the presence of this Resplendent Beauty and I ask God (Haqq) to confirm[them] all in that which will cause them to be remembered for ever.

Thou hast asked about unity (ittihád). The first kind of unity is unity in religion. This unity has always been the cause of the victory of the Faith of God in every age and century. Togetherness is the mystic sword of God.

For example, should a government see that most of the people of the country have rent asunder the veils and are turning towards the horizon of Divine revelation, it should remain silent and should listen to what is said. Each person who is attentive attains to the knowledge of God, except those who are utterly distant from the Mercy of God. They indeed are fully deserving of anger and vehement opposition. Such persons are, in any case, forbidden and barred.

Tablet of the Bell (Lawh-i-Náqús) - by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Stephen Lambden

He is the Almighty.

This [Tablet] is the Meadow of Paradise wherein the melody of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, hath been exalted. Therein hath Houris [Maidens] of Eternity (huriyyát al-khuld) been empowered whom none hath touched save God, the Almighty, the Sanctified. Therein doth the Nightingale of Eternal Subsistence warble upon the branches of the Lote-Tree of the Extremity (sidrat al-muntahá) with such a melody as hath bedazzled discerning souls (al-‘uqúl). Therein is that through which the poor and needy (al-fuqará’) are made to approach the shore of independent self-sufficiency (shatí al-ghaná’) and the people obtain guidance unto the Word of God (kalimát Alláh). Such, indeed, is the certain Truth!

In Thy Name “He” for Thou, verily, art “He,” O “He”!

O Monk of the Divine Unicity! (ráhib al-ahadiyya) Strike the Bell! (al-náqús) for the Day of God hath been realized and the Beauty of the Divine Might (jamál al-‘izz) been enthroned upon a Throne of Luminous Holiness. So Praised be Thou O “He”! O Thou Who art “He” Who is “He”! O Thou besides Whom there is none other than “He.”

Tablet of the Universe (Lawh-i-Aflákiyyih) – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

-- provisional translation

Praise be to God Who hath ever caused His Names and Attributes to penetrate the degrees of existence; Who hath made the effects of those Names and Attributes to shine resplendent and their signs to be firmly established in both the hidden and manifest worlds. By them He hath made the holy realities that are informed by His grace and are the recipients of His outpourings to be the sole revealers of all that pertaineth unto Him, and hath caused them to move through the firmament of perfection in arcs of descent and ascent. He hath ordained these Names and Attributes to be the first and foremost origin and cause of being in the world of creation and the source of the different grades of realities in the degrees of existence. When, through its power of attraction and propagation, the Day-Star of Names and Attributes shone upon the hidden realities in the heart of the unseen realm, they issued forth, were spread abroad, scattered about, set in order, became the recipients of the grace of God and His outpourings, and were made to be the sole manifestations of the Divine conditions and Eternal signs. Emerging from behind the veils, they appeared clothed in raiments of light, moving in the firmament of the unity of God, in orbits of sanctity and circles of glorification.

Thus the suns of the praise of the one true God moved resplendent in a vast, infinite space, capable neither of being defined by limits nor contained within the compass of signs and allusions. All praise be to Him Who was its Author and Creator, Who spread it out, and adorned it with countless lamps and never-fading luminaries: 'None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him' (Qur'an, 74:31). He made the circuits of these luminous divine orbs to be their lofty and celestial spheres; and He made the bodies of these spiritual spheres to be subtle and soft, flowing and liquid, undulating and vibrating, in such manner that these refulgent orbs swim in the circumferences of the spheres, and move in their vast space by the aid of their Creator and Maker, their Ordainer and Fashioner.